About

If you want to know what got us to this moment in awesomeness, read on past the first paragraph…If you only want to know what’s going on currently, here you go:

I’m keeping a bucket list for the rest of 2012. By Jan 1, 2013 I hope to have everything crossed off it. Part of me thinks there’s just no f*cking way. If for some reason I get it all done, I will be much better off than I am right now, and that’s a plus for anyone, right? On top of the bucket list, I’m going to incorporate some weekly and 30 day challenges here and there as well. My first weekly challenge starts tomorrow 7/8/12 at noon, and ends 7/14/12 at noon. It’s going to be horrible. Stay tuned for that mess.

I decided for 2012’s New Year’s resolution that I was going to have a new resolution every month, and they would all carry forward through the year. I didn’t have a clue what they would be, but I figured if I stuck with even a quarter of them, that’s 3 things I’ve completely changed about myself by 2013. That’s pretty good considering 88% of New Year’s resolutions fail.

Here’s what I chose for January through May:

January: Quit Chewing Tobacco.

February: Quit drinking Soda (Feb 15th I added no drive thru food).

March: Quit biting fingernails.

April: Study the Spanish language one hour per day.

May: No Fast food including Jimmy John’s or Buffalo Wild Wings.

Although it wasn’t part of the plan, I also started working out every day and that was actually a bad idea when it came to these resolutions. I got hurt at the end of March and couldn’t exercise at all, so that was basically like a small string pulling apart the entire sweater. I don’t know why I’m built that way, but I’m hardwired as an all or nothing kinda guy.

As of today, June 3rd at 5:46pm, I still don’t chew tobacco. I quit soda all of February, and am now down to 3 or 4 sodas a week, where before I was drinking 8 or so a DAY. So I consider that one a win. I didn’t bite my nails all of March and into April but then I fell off that one hardcore mid April. April’s Spanish resolution was the worst one…I probably did one hour of Spanish 7 times the entire month. Pathetic. May started strong but finished week as I basically only gave up Jimmy Johns and BWW and started eating fast food again mid May.

So there we have it so far. I’ve basically cut WAY down on soda and quit chewing tobacco altogether. I’ve gone back to eating crap and nails and no Spanish is studied within these walls. I give myself major props for quitting chewing…that shit is HARD to quit. That’s my saving grace at this point.

June’s resolution* was crowdsourced on Facebook and there were a LOT of great suggestions so that’s where I got stupid and turned this into a really really really dumb challenge. I figured I’d pick 80% of them and just quit them all. Plus everything I quit before.

IT’S A 30 DAY WILLPOWER DEATHMATCH SPECTAULAR!

*June 4th is the actual start date due to me being in a badass wedding June 2nd and I didn’t want to start this and fail immediately at the reception.

So here’s the list of things I’ll be giving up or doing for 30 days June 4th at 12am to July 3rd at 5pm:

Keeping a blog of my shenanigans and updating it daily.

Waking up every day before 8am. This includes Saturdays and Sundays (I normally sleep in until at least 10 on these days).

Put this somewhere:

Like this:

I subscribed to this business. Good luck dude, Some days you gotta nail it, and some days you gotta treat it like a list of things to check off. You’ll do great though. One piece of advice: between jogging every day, weight lifting, and cooking your own food, make sure you get enough calories to support your activity. Nothing is going to crash you harder than not recovering between workouts.

[…] My friend Ben Konowitz is testing the extent of his willpower this month. He has selected a smorgasbord of changes for the next 30 days. I’m really excited for him. He’s tackled quite a few single […]

This is fantastic Ben!! I’ve been sufficiently stalking you/following your progress the past few months. 🙂 I’m both proud of you and a little concerned for your health and well-being. I think I’d need more hours in the day to even attempt half that list, good thing you’ll be up before 8am…good luck buddy!!

Blog is an excellent idea Ben! Your hilarious and I can’t wait to read your updates. Stay strong, keep up the good work but we warned, if I see a resolution for 1 month without Bacon we will be in a fight and I might have to come kick you butt! 🙂